Richland County Sheriff’s Deputies Save 1-Year-Old’s Life

RICHLAND COUNTY, SC (WOLO)- A one year old is recovering in the hospital after almost losing his life when he started choking.

His family, stuck in traffic and started praying. A team of Richland County Sheriff deputies answered the call.

“I heard the mom say he’s chocking on a peanut,” Corporal, Kristin Boyles said.

Zion’s family was stuck in the middle of traffic as their baby boy struggled to breathe.

“Traffic wasn’t moving they were literally stuck in the middle of the road,” Boyles said.

The Deputies were waved down to help and quickly jumped into action. They decided to perform CPR until the ambulance came.

“I kept doing compression’s as I ran towards the ambulance and literally opened up the back doors, put him inside, and was like lets go,” Boyles said.

In a joint effort with EMS and fire officials they successfully got baby Zion to the hospital.

“There was a whole lot of praying going on inside the ambulance,” Boyles said. “It took a whole team effort.”

“This just shows all three pieces of the puzzle working together because fire couldn’t do it without EMS, and EMS couldn’t do it without law enforcement,” Deputy Dennis Thomas said. “To see us all work together for a good outcome, that’s the way it should be.”

To Zion’s family these deputies are heroes.

“There are a lot of heroes out there but most of us do it because we want to do it, it’s our passion, and we want to serve our community,” Master Deputy, Douglas Rooks said.

“It’s apart of what we do everyday, and that is to take care of the community,” Boyles said. “I told Zion’s mom that there is a reason he’s still here.”